Monthly reviews recaps blog post activity on “A Lesbian and Her Laptop,” personal updates, and what’s coming up for the blog next month.

This August on AL&HL

This month was a little on the slower side with just six posts, but we still broke the 1,500 view threshold and surpassed over 200 followers subscribed to the blog! Thank you to everyone who follows and remember you can sign up for notifications with every new post via email!

This month’s posts included the introduction of a new series, “How to Dress Gay.” As a total of 6 posts, the series explores my personal evolution of style through the lens of my identity and how much I wanted adopt certain queer fashion stereotypes and sapphic styles. So far, I have posted parts 1 through 3, covering periods during childhood, high school, and the beginning of university. Each post has a few pictures here and there of some of my previous style stapes, most of which are tragic.

I also published an LGBTQ Spotlight interview of the director of an independent Michigan film, Sandbagger. The film features sapphic characters and a strange, inquisitive plot. My interview with Mitch Anderson, the director, delves into his experience working on the film, particularly with using canon queer characters in his art. The interview is definitely worth the read and includes a link to watch the film (accessible and free).

A Lesbian and Her Laptop is now on Patreon! I set up a Patreon this month, where patrons can pledge a monthly amount to the blog for extra goodies. The perks range from a guaranteed answer from J&J Chats, a badge (button) with the blog’s logo, a personal thank-you note and more! All pledge amounts ($1/month at the lowest) includes exclusive, never-before-posted blogs in the “How I Met My Girlfriend” series every month. So far, the blog has 4 patrons, and I am very excited to begin this journey! Any funds racked up from Patreon that will not be going towards mail/other blog-related fees will be added to my Ko-Fi laptop fund, where I will update the goal amount anytime I make a Patreon deposit to my savings account. So switching your support from Ko-Fi to Patreon will 100% still contribute to this laptop goal!

Personal Updates

Reading has taken a bit of a back-burner to my other hobbies, so I am still slowly reading The Female Man, a sci-fi story of a planet with only women. With a Michael’s gift card, I’ve stocked up on some yarn and have been chipping away at the very beginning of a crocheted blanket with lesbian pride flag colors. Right now, I’m still working on the darkest orange shade, but a lighter orange is coming soon!

Late summer started phasing out some of the garden veggies, and many plants have stopped producing good crops. But fear not! Many root vegetables are now ready (onion, garlic, potatoes, etc) and the tomatoes are booming this time of year. The past few weekends have been dedicated to making salsa and stewed tomatoes, and these batches are pretty tasty!

I’m very much into bullet journaling, which isn’t something I think I’ve mentioned here before. But my best friend came over this month with a fresh journal, looking to get into the crafty hobby herself too. So we both started preparing a journal for 2020 (despite not having a complete 2019 journal yet….oops). Soon we will be setting up an Instagram “Bulleting Jess & Tess” for our smashing spreads.  

Coming This September

I will be releasing the final posts in the “How to Dress Gay” series, which will focus more on the gay styles I tried and discarded, or tried and kept, along with a book review of The Female Man. Very soon, will be my 100^th blog post on here, which I plan to celebrate with a post! This will feature a big, personalized, thank you to many of my readers, and include a link to a badge (button) giveaway, which I will be hosting on my Twitter account this month.

AL&HL will also be hosting a guest-post series for Bisexual Awareness Week this month. I have been working with over half a dozen bisexual writers over the course of the past several weeks to make their unique, complex stories of bisexuality shine during this week of celebration and visibility.

Similarly, I will be working with a few writers during Hispanic Heritage Month (towards the second half of September/beginning of October) to bring stories of intersectional identities (Hispanic heritage and being LBGTQ+) to the blog. If you have these identities, please reach out to me! I am looking for people willing to write 400-2k words for a blog post where I will promo your piece, blog, and social media accounts. (I can also publish your post anonymously if you so desire; as a few of my bisexual writers will be doing this.)

If you enjoyed any of the blog posts during August, consider making a one-time $3 donation to my Ko-Fi, or becoming a patron for exclusive blog content (starting at $1/month).